{"nrhp_refnum":"89001928","name":"Vowles, John, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1111--1113 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlottesville (Independent City)","county":"Charlottesville","state":"VA","lat":38.03342242100007,"lon":-78.49656160599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A pair of adjoining Federal style brick townhouses at 1111 and 1113 West Main Street, at the northeast corner of Twelfth and West Main Streets in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a detached brick kitchen. The John Vowles House was built in 1824; the neighbouring house and kitchen date from 1839.","why_significant":"The houses are well-preserved examples of Federal architecture and are among only a handful of buildings from that period left on West Main Street. The Vowles House stands out for its refined design, including an elaborate carved wood cornice, a tracery transom and extensive original interior woodwork. The nomination also credits the carpenter James Dinsmore, who sold the lot in 1823, as probably responsible for its construction.","narrative":"Two brick townhouses at the corner of Twelfth and West Main Streets in Charlottesville form this property. The John Vowles House, built in 1824, and its neighbour, added in 1839, are both two-story, three-bay Federal buildings with Flemish bond brickwork. The Vowles House has a carved wood cornice with egg-and-dart moulding and foliated modillions, a transom with delicate tracery, and six original fireplaces with reeded and rope-moulded mantels. The 1839 house has a mousetooth cornice and a rare triple-hung sash window. A small detached brick kitchen behind it is an uncommon surviving service building. The lot was sold in 1823 by James Dinsmore, a Scottish carpenter who had worked for Thomas Jefferson, and similarities to his documented work suggest he built the house. Later used as student boarding houses, the pair now serve commercial purposes. They are among very few Federal-period buildings left on West Main Street.","period_of_significance":"1111 W. Main: 1824-1930; 1113 W. Main and kitchen: 1839-1930's","architect_builder":"1111 W. Main - James Dinsmore (?)","architectural_style":"Early Republic: Federal","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"All three buildings are described as in a good state of preservation; the townhouses were converted to commercial use after the 1930s and remain in commercial use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.505789-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/6800/41680075/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/89001928.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001928/ad325fba4f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001928/ad325fba4f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Trace Carter","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Vowles_House,_Charlottesville,_VA..JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Trace Carter</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Vowles_House,_Charlottesville,_VA..JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41680075","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vowles_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15229687"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/charlottesville/vowles-john-house-89001928/"}